Taughannock Falls Overlook LbNA #5512
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Add Location| Owner: | Cock o' the Trail  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Aug 19, 2003 |
| Location: | Taughannock Falls State Park |
| City: | Trumansburg |
| County: | Tompkins |
| State: | New York |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Found by: | Waneta Wench |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Jul 5, 2017 |
| Status: | FaFFFFFFFFFFFFOFFFFF |
| Last edited: | Aug 19, 2003 |
Terrain: Easy
Clues: Not bad, but a little different.
(Water-soaked log book replaced - for the second time - on 9-22-2010; please take care to reseal box and bag.) Confirmed in place 5-23-2015. Renovation of restrooms in progress.
Taughannock Falls State Park is on NY 89 along the west shore of Cayuga Lake about 9 miles north of the city of Ithaca and 4 miles southeast of the village of Trumansburg (located on NY 96). The main entrance - a fee area - lies astride Route 89 and features swimming, picnicking and play areas on the delta plus a mile-long trail to the base of the falls. The road to the Overlook is a short distance beyond (north) on the left, leading up the hill past the headquarters of the Finger Lakes Region Parks. It can also be reached by driving east from NY96 on the road along the creek. The Overlook is a non-fee area, although it has limited facilities - restroom, picnic tables, plus a kiosk with new text and illustrations about the Falls.
The view of Taughannock Falls from several hundred feet above the floor of the gorge and perhaps a third of a mile away is immensely rewarding, especially when the flow is ample. Unlike so many of the many waterfalls in the Finger Lakes Region, it is no cascade but a sheer drop of 215 feet into the plunge pool, making it certainly one of the tallest in the eastern U.S.
CLUES:
You'll quickly appreciate that there is no safe nor sufficiently private place for a letterbox along the short stone staircase that leads down to the overlook. But across the road @340° from the kiosk in a smaller parking area is dimly seen another State Park sign showing a map of the Park trails (well, it's been removed since, but might well have been replaced.
Take the narrow, white-blazed trail. Continue on this path as it curves around into the forest of mixed hemlock and towering hardwoods, passing between halves of a log sawed in two to an eventual bearing of 290°. Notice around you a few unusual pairings of seemingly companionate species - a mature hardwood with a younger hemlock close beside. Indeed, it's difficult to be more specific about the hardwoods here, as their leafy canopy spreads high above the younger hemlocks - an unusual situation. Many of the taller ones are tulip trees; in May crane your neck to look for the showy blossoms high above in late spring, or look for their remnants on the ground.
Pause soon to look at a 20-ft. high stump, well worked over by pileated woodpeckers - or like species. Then, proceed first 15 steps farther on the trail, then 25 steps more off the trail @10° to a short, well-rotted stump. But go round it to the left, taking care not to trample the clustered saprophytes of the Indian Pipe family (Monotropaceae) that were present when the LB was planted and may well have sprung up once again in season. The stump itself harbors something of further interest to you; look carefully.
Clues: Not bad, but a little different.
(Water-soaked log book replaced - for the second time - on 9-22-2010; please take care to reseal box and bag.) Confirmed in place 5-23-2015. Renovation of restrooms in progress.
Taughannock Falls State Park is on NY 89 along the west shore of Cayuga Lake about 9 miles north of the city of Ithaca and 4 miles southeast of the village of Trumansburg (located on NY 96). The main entrance - a fee area - lies astride Route 89 and features swimming, picnicking and play areas on the delta plus a mile-long trail to the base of the falls. The road to the Overlook is a short distance beyond (north) on the left, leading up the hill past the headquarters of the Finger Lakes Region Parks. It can also be reached by driving east from NY96 on the road along the creek. The Overlook is a non-fee area, although it has limited facilities - restroom, picnic tables, plus a kiosk with new text and illustrations about the Falls.
The view of Taughannock Falls from several hundred feet above the floor of the gorge and perhaps a third of a mile away is immensely rewarding, especially when the flow is ample. Unlike so many of the many waterfalls in the Finger Lakes Region, it is no cascade but a sheer drop of 215 feet into the plunge pool, making it certainly one of the tallest in the eastern U.S.
CLUES:
You'll quickly appreciate that there is no safe nor sufficiently private place for a letterbox along the short stone staircase that leads down to the overlook. But across the road @340° from the kiosk in a smaller parking area is dimly seen another State Park sign showing a map of the Park trails (well, it's been removed since, but might well have been replaced.
Take the narrow, white-blazed trail. Continue on this path as it curves around into the forest of mixed hemlock and towering hardwoods, passing between halves of a log sawed in two to an eventual bearing of 290°. Notice around you a few unusual pairings of seemingly companionate species - a mature hardwood with a younger hemlock close beside. Indeed, it's difficult to be more specific about the hardwoods here, as their leafy canopy spreads high above the younger hemlocks - an unusual situation. Many of the taller ones are tulip trees; in May crane your neck to look for the showy blossoms high above in late spring, or look for their remnants on the ground.
Pause soon to look at a 20-ft. high stump, well worked over by pileated woodpeckers - or like species. Then, proceed first 15 steps farther on the trail, then 25 steps more off the trail @10° to a short, well-rotted stump. But go round it to the left, taking care not to trample the clustered saprophytes of the Indian Pipe family (Monotropaceae) that were present when the LB was planted and may well have sprung up once again in season. The stump itself harbors something of further interest to you; look carefully.